Service Center problem and Unresponsive Support Center

I'm writing here after having exhausted my possibilities with the South America international Support Center.

About 6 months ago I purchased a ThinkPad W520 in Canada, and I received it with a faulty webcam that never worked. I've been traveling a lot around South America since then, and to make a long story short, have opened up a case to have the warranty solve the broken webcam in 4 different countries. For one reason or another and especially due to delays in sending the replacement piece, I'd have to close the case and reopen it again in the next country I arrived in.

While in Colombia, I was referred to an authorized service center, who kept my laptop for a bit over a month and tried several camera replacements to no avail. Eventually, I had to travel so I withdrew my laptop from the service center and was told that the case would be closed but that I could reopen it when I got to Chile in a few weeks. When I got home from having picked up my laptop I realized there was some play in the sides of the screen and when looking closer I noticed that it wasn't closed properly, but had a small gap. Then I realized that a couple other places were chiped and scratched. Obviously the technician didn't know how to properly open the screen to access the webcam and ended up cracking and scratching it by using undue force.

I called the very next morning to complain to Lenovo Support Center that their service center had broken my laptop case, and I asked them for an email to send pictures, etc. They told me it wasn't necessary and that when I arrived in Chile, I should just call from there and reopen the case. After calling in Chile to reopen the webcam case and complain again about the broken case, they forwarded me to a service center there. When I talked with the service center the next day, they told me they were only informed about the webcam, not the case replacement. I called Lenovo a third time, and only then did they open a case for the Colombia service center damages, and sent me an email and told me to write and send photos.

They never answered my email and after calling at least 3 to 5 more times, they informed me that when I withdrew my laptop from the service center and signed for it, I was in essence saying I was satisfied with the service and basically they don't take any repsonsability for any damages there. They wouldn't pass me on to anyone with more authority, and didn't give me any other email to write to. One of the phone support men hung up on me when asking to speak with someone in charge. I wrote several more emails about that, and still no reply. The last time I phoned, I asked them to file my complaint that I wasn't satisfied with their answer, especially since I called within less than 24 hrs after having withdrawn the laptop and they didn't even send a technician to confirm that the damages were too specific to have been caused by a fall or other neglect on my end... the reply I received was that he wasn't going to file any complaint in his report, and would only write down that he informed me the warranty wasn't going to cover the damages. He also said that there was no record that I had complained right away, and when I told him to check the recordings, he said they don't have access to them.

Basically, very unhelpful phone support. I'm still waiting on the webcam getting replaced, and have left my laptop in Chile while I'm in Argentina for a couple weeks in the hopes that it'll get fixed once and for all.

I don't know what else to do or who else to write, since my emails and phone calls are coming up against a cold wall. I would like someone to confirm what I'm saying with the phone conversation recordings that are supposedly kept to offer better customer support.

I have experience will other computer manufacturers like Dell and HP who offer a lot better support to their customers, even paying them compensation when problems such as these arise. I really thought Lenovo was more serious in their dealings with their customers and in their support. I was told on a couple ocasions that the laptop would be fixed within 72 hours, but apparently that's not true either.

This has been overly frustrating for me, not to mention that I can't even travel with my laptop if I ever hope to get it fixed. It's been months since trying to solve this broken webcam problem, and I've spent way more time than I should have had to... all to no avail. I hope someone from Lenovo will see this and help me out with this problem.

about the terrible support from Lenovo in South America. What started out as a fairly simple problem (broken webcam) has taken months to resolve and has left me with a laptop with a loose screen and broken case. I just got back from a trip, and my webcam seems to have gotten replaced and is working, but the case is worse than ever. Now the side of the screen is always cracked open, and there seems to be scotch tape inside!! Even though I was told by a representative that contacted me via this forum that Lenovo Chile would email me, 2 weeks later I still haven't heard from them, and have to start traveling again mid-February (I told them of my travel plans in my communications with them). I'm starting to think I'm purposely being ignored so that Lenovo can wash their hands yet again of the whole situation.

Here are some pictures of the damage caused by one of the authorized repair centers of Lenovo in South America:

Does anyone know someone who could actually escalate my case? On the phone they won't pass me on to any manager or superior, I don't get any answers by their SA support email: hclenovo @ ar.ibm.com. On this forum I thought I was getting help, but maybe they don't carry enough weight when passing it on to Lenovo Chile, as they're still ignoring me. I've spent so much time on this, and am frustrated beyond words.

Moderator note; link to this thread removed because post was meged in to keep the history in one place.

Re: Lenovo broke my W520 and won't replace it!

I just wanted to post an update on how things went in my dealings with Lenovo.

I didn't get any help after all from this forum, and wasn't contacted by representatives in Chile like I was told. When I got to Santiago, I saw that Lenovo Chile has an address for their office in Santiago. So I went in person. I was able to talk with the man in charge of dealing with the service center there, and he was VERY helpful. He went out of his way to order the replacement part that had been broken by the service center in Cali, Colombia, and then sped things up when it was going to take over a month to arrive and I was going to be out of the country by then. He gave me a phone number and email to contact him directly (no phone was listed on Lenovo web site).

All I can recommend to any who might have trouble getting Lenovo to respect their warranty is to try and find someone to talk to in person, and hope he's as helpful as the Santiago, Chile representative was. He deserves a raise! I got lucky in just happening to find him at his office, but after that things went smoothly.